"DoN. Nichols" wrote...

Hi Don,
Thanks again for your patience.


First question -- just to be sure. You *are* connecting it to
240V aren't you? I'm not sure that the start winding would produce
enough torque to reliably start it at 120V.


I assumed I was. Today I went out, plugged it in, flipped the switch and
the dang thing strarted right up. Did it a couple more times and it
started, then it started NOT starting. I probed the two lines in and one of
them was dead. Probed it at the outlet and one was dead there too. Reset
teh breaker and both were hot. Started the motor and started up, kept
trying and it would start sometimes and wouldn't others. Probed teh wires
again and one was dead again. Reset the breaker, started to realize that it
was the breaker that was tripping. Thought it was internal problem with the
motor. Finally noticed (to my great embarrassment) one of the hot lines
going into the motor was touching the case. i had stripped just a LITTLE
too much insulation off one wire and (to my great embarrassment) one of the
hot wires was just barely touching the case, and of course, tripping the
breaker each time i flipped the drum switch. eeek. Guess it's a good thing
i had wired up the ground this time huh? So, now it starts but not 100%
reliably. I guess that'll have to be something I'm going to have to live
with. Seems to start right up like maybe 85% of the time, sometimes it
won't start at all, some times it starts jerkingly. Sorry to have caused
you to type all the below cringe. Thanks very much for your patience. It
sure has been a learning experience for me. It is fantastic to see this
motor running there clamped to my workbench.
It was fun to probe the wires in the switch. I was surprised to see, as
you say below, one of the wires was "...close to zero.". Woulda figured it
would either be 120 or ZERO. I assumed that must be juice remaining in the
capacitor huh? I was probing, getting either 120 or zero and one time i got
220 and was like "wha' da frig?!", oops, probed the two hot leads. I woulda
thought that woulda resulted in a flash and sparks. I think in the past
that woulda been my indicator that i had done something wrong (as in the
wire touching the case). If there was a bright flash and sparks then I knew
i must've done something wrong.

Wow. So again, a BIG thanks Don. Whew!

b.w.




O.K. Time to do a bit of debugging. Are the motor wires
push-on crimp connectors? If so, disconnect the motor wire from (2) and
push it onto (1). Switch the motor on, and see if it starts. If so,
note which direction, then stop the motor and move that same wire to (4)
and switch the motor on again. If that spins up, check that it spins in
the other direction. If you don't have push-on connectors, you will
have to do a bit more work wiring it up -- or use clip leads for the
tests, if you have those.

If it spins up, then the start winding is now proven to work, so
it is in the wiring at the switch.

If it doesn't, use a meter to measure the power between (3) and
wherever you have the wire connected.

That voltage should measure something near 120VAC. If it
measures the right amount, and the motor still does not start on its
own, then we have to check what has happened inside the motor. It could
be that the centrifugal switch is not making contact, or the wires to
the capacitor have slipped off their terminals under the bulge. (Or --
the capacitor was damaged during earlier tests when it did not spin up.
Pull the bulge and look at the capacitor. If there is gunk inside the
cover, or oozing out the end of the capacitor, it needs to be replaced.

However if it does spin up in the two earlier tests, you now
need to measure the voltage coming from the switch to terminal (2).
Measure that relative to terminal (3).
That should be near 120V when the motor is switched on, and close to
zero when it is switched off.

If you don't get that, it is a problem with the wire from (E) to
(2), or the switch element which connects between (E) and (F) in the
FORWARD and REVERSE positions. Check all of that wiring to see where
you are not getting your power through. And measure the (E) to (F)
switching (with the motor unplugged, of course) to make sure that the
drum switch *does* connect them in both the FORWARD and REVERSE
positions.

One other possibility -- is the switch upside down relative to
the drawing? That is, the terminals which I have called (E) and (F)
should connect both in FORWARD and REVERSE, while if you have exchanged
ends on the switch, you will only get connection in the FORWARD
position, (really terminals (A) and (B).

A pity that we don't have actual labels on the terminals for the
drum switch, instead of the ones which I dreamed up to be able to talk
about this.

So -- do your tests and let me know what you find.

Good Luck,
DoN.